Surf's Up, Dude

So, yes, we ended up going down to Mavericks this weekend - and it was awesome!
Got down to Half Moon Bay around 9:30pm Friday night and as I rolled into the hotel parking lot, there They Were: blond, blue-eyed skinny surfers...three of them in the lot, clearly ready for the day to come. (lol...it was a running weekend joke that the Queen had dated two of these types of guys, and I never have).
Anyways, I knew I was in the right spot!

We woke up at o'dark thirty to make our way North to the beach. We rolled up by 6:30 and actually found free(!) parking. Loaded with our gear (blankets, picnic, water, binoculars, coats, hats, gloves, etc) we made our way to the so-called shuttle. (There was - supposedly - a shuttle running from the Half Moon Bay airport to the beach site...we never found it). So we made the hike ourselves - and it was beautiful. Watching the sun rise over the bay, making our way up the hill with a hundred some-odd of our "closest friends" felt like we were part of some really-cool, underground event.

Now the think about Mavericks is . . . if you stand on the beach you don't see any of the action. The big waves (read 30-40 footers) break about half and mile out, and if you're standing on the beach, you can't see over the waves breaking on the shore. So, the place to be is high up on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. This is where we were headed. Our path was cold and muddy, but the reward was an amazing view. We picked out our spot, set up camp and waiting for the 8am start time.

And we were not disappointed. I can't believe the waves that these guys tackle - they are HUGE and dangerous! One guy's board snapped in half one of his first times out. Crazy!

We ended up staying there until 2pm (having arrived at 7:30). By that time, most of the biggest waves had already made their appearence. All in all, it was a great time - lots of cool people, big waves and beautiful scenery made for a memorable Saturday. I look foward to going back next year!

I took a few pics - none of them had the big waves, though...! However, you can check out these pictures here from SFGate.